7/4/2011

HR2210, a new bill introduced by U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., will go
a long way toward banning the cruel and inhumane practice known as canned
hunting. On canned hunting ranches, exotic animals are confined within
enclosures and used as living targets for hunters to shoot. Condemned by
both wildlife advocates and pro-hunting organizations, these types of
operations cater to the lowest members of society – those who enjoy cruelly
and violently killing helpless animals for no legitimate purpose.

HR2210 will amend the federal criminal code to prohibit knowingly: (1)
transferring, transporting, or possessing a confined exotic animal for
purposes of allowing the killing or injuring of that animal for
entertainment or for the collection of a trophy; or (2) making available a
computer-assisted remote hunt. The bill defines "confined exotic animal" as
a mammal of a species not indigenous to the United States that has been held
in captivity for the majority of its life or a continuous period of one
year.

HR2210 is currently sitting with the House Subcommittee on Crime,
Terrorism, and Homeland Security. Please write to each member of the
committee and urge them to support the bill. Additionally, please urge
committee Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner to post the bill for a vote as soon as
possible.

I am contacting you to request your support for HR2210, a bill that will
prohibit transferring, transporting, or possessing a confined exotic animal
for purposes of allowing the killing or injuring of that animal for
entertainment or for the collection of a trophy (otherwise known as “canned
hunting”) and also would prohibit making available a computer-assisted
remote hunt.

As you may know, both wildlife protection advocates and hunters oppose
canned hunting. In his book Beyond Fair Chase, hunter Jim Posewitz of the
Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, states: "There are some
activities that are clearly unfair as well as unethical. At the top of the
list is shooting captive or domesticated big game animals in commercial
killing areas…” According to Matthew Scully, author of Dominion and senior
speechwriter to former President George W. Bush, "Game farming and canned
hunting are among the lowest practices described (in Dominion), and also the
most easily outlawed."

Because there is no place in a civilized society for blatant and needless
cruelty that has absolutely no conservation value of any sort, I urge you to
support HR2210 and do all you can to see that the bill becomes law.